Just a note about AEs/System Bids/Equipment bids, etc.....most every airline I'm familiar with or have worked at does their equipment bidding similar to the way DAL does it...its just not that cosmic.

Yes, they do, but at most other airlines, there is a more set schedule. Not there huge bids every so often, at Crew Plannings desire.

Ae
 

Hiring is still possible early next year.

AE is now Nov.

ACL,

It hasn't always been a "huge bid" and usually they come out fairly regularly...about 4 bids a year. And they generally reflect what is going on with the airline...if we're gaining or losing aircraft rapidly there are more bids...only makes sense. Crew Resources could have a bid every 2 weeks but the bid itself doesn't create upward movement everyone is looking for....only retirements and increased flying do that.

I get that, and understand that. It is fact that other airlines have a more set schedule on how to do the bidding for positions.

I know that they bid size is not normally huge. It has been quite sometime since we have been taking delivery of our largest airframes. That is making these bids as large as they are.
For some time we were getting rid of the large airframes.

Exactly.
I worked for 2 other airlines where the position bids/system bids/AE's come out on a very regular schedule even if there is no or only a few vacancies. It gave us the opportunity to change bases faster and come back somewhere I liked better faster within the same category (or not necessarily). Delta's system seems less flexible in that department of QOL.

Say I live in SEA and want to fly every summer out of JFK (7ER), but for the rest of the year out of ATL (7ER) for whatever personal reason. Of course all is the subject to other guys wanting gypsy lifestyle.
It is impossible at Delta, but I heard at NWA such movements could be done easier.

I think moving around on the same aircraft should be easier.
Not that I am complaining at all. Delta is a superb airline to work for. And I totally understand the reason of pushing this particular AE back as they are trying to figure out so many variables with combined schedule for next summer.

It would not matter if Delta posted quarterly bids or monthly bids. The training and actual conversion dates would be the same. When the company is growing rapidly we normally have about 8 bids a year. There usually was a cleanup bid after the main bid each time. We have not seen that recently in part because of massive contract changes that required far fewer pilots in each category. Since we are now staffed more in line with the new contract there should be more movement from each bid and either more backfill or follow on bids.

At my previous airline, we had a base trade system.

The way it worked is that you would find someone at the other base who would want to trade with you (usually through an online message board or a bulletin board notice in the crew room). The trade would then be posted online for 30 days. If a person who's more senior also wants to trade into that base, he/she could then bump the more junior person. This preserved the seniority integrity by keeping a junior pilot from potentially trading into a senior base he/she wouldn't normally hold in an AE.

FWIW, crew resources states that they are trying to get the AE out by Friday.

Crap, I'll be at the ME hotel on Cancun that day....:D